The Best Sleepover Ever
by banditlover
Summary: Marina invites Althea, Shona and Emily to her house for a sleepover. They watch a movie give each other makeovers play truth or dare and more. Takes place about two years after "Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist". The girls are fourteen years old


**A/n: just another Emily Windsnap oneshot. Marina invites Althea, Shona, and Emily to her house for a sleepover. Takes place about two years after "Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist". The girls are fourteen years old.**

**Disclaimer: Liz Kessler owns Emily, Shona, Althea, Marina, and Aaron.**

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**Emily's POV:**

"Make sure you haven't forgotten anything." My mom said as I put my toothbrush into my overnight bag. Marina had invited me to her slumber party, and Mom knows I tend to be forgetful when I'm excited.

"Do you have your sleeping bag?" she asked.

"Check" I said.

"Hairbrush?"

"Check"

"Bead kit?"

"Check" I said for a third time, getting slightly annoyed.

"I'm just making sure." My mom said. Suddenly the trapdoor in the floor sprung open and Shona appeared. "Hi Shona." "Hi Emily. Are you ready to go?" "Yeah, let me just say goodbye to my parents. Bye Mom." I said, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Bye Honey. Have fun. I'll see you tomorrow." "Okay Mom. Bye."

Then I took off my blue striped t-shirt, revealing the top piece of my pink bikini bathing suit. I had finally outgrown my black one-piece, and decided to go for a two-piece. I stuffed my shirt in my bag and then handed my overnight bag and my sleeping bag down to Shona. Then I carefully dropped down through the trapdoor into the water. Almost instantly, my legs started tingling, then they went numb, then they disappeared completely, my shimmery green-and-purple tail taking their place. "Hold on, Shona, I just want to go say goodbye to my dad." I told her. "Sure thing, Emily. I'll wait here." I nodded and then swam through the boat to my dad's bedroom.

He was sitting at his desk, pen in hand, writing more poetry. "Hey Dad, Shona and I are going to Marina's place for a sleepover. I came to say goodbye." Dad looked up from his poem. "Oh, okay. Well have fun Emily. Bye." He said as I gave him a hug. "Bye Dad, I love you." Dad smiled. "Love you too, Honey. Now go on, you don't want to be late." I laughed as I swam back to Shona. I took my bags from her and we swam out of the boat and headed for Marina's place.

"So, what do you think the sleepover's going to be like?" Shona asked. We'd hung out at Marina's all the time, but we'd never slept over. We'd slept over each other's places before, but never Marina's, and it had always just been the two of us. "I'm not really sure, Shona. I never really went to many sleepovers back in Brightport; the only ones I've been to were the ones we've had, and usually we just goof off and eat junk food and give each other makeovers. But I'm sure this will be lots of fun." I said, trying to reassure Shona as well as myself. I mean, I don't even know why I was so nervous, Marina and Althea are my friends, and Shona is my best friend. We hang out all the time; I'm sure we'll have a blast. "I bet it will be swishy!" Shona said. "That's your word for everything, Shona." I giggled. She giggled too. "Well, what can I say, I like the word swishy. It's swishy!" we both started laughing. "Look, we're here." I said, pointing to the shimmery purple rock where Marina lived. Shona swam up to the pink fish hovering by the entrance and tapped it lightly. The fish wriggled its body, and the bell attached to its tail chimed delicately.

"Come in!" We heard Marina call from inside. We swam through the round entrance hole and into her home. We found Marina and Althea in Marina's room. They swam up to us and gave us hugs. "How are you? Are you ready for some fun?" Marina asked. "We sure are!" Shona answered. "Well, put your bags down on the bed, the pizza should be here any minute." Marina said. We obliged, and then I sat down on the huge pink sponge in the corner of her room; Shona sat on the floor, and Marina and Althea sat on Marina's seaweed bed.

"So, what do you want to talk about while we wait for the pizza?" Althea asked. "Um, what did you think of that Ocean Studies test on Friday?" I asked. I knew it was lame, but it was the first thing that had popped into my head. "That test was hard! I didn't study the right fish at all!" Marina exclaimed. "I thought it was hard too, but I studied the right fish, I think, so I think I did all right." Althea added. "Well, Emily and I studied together every day for a week before the test, so I think we both aced it!" Shona said proudly. It was true, we had studied every day, but I had overslept on Friday and in my rush not to be late I skipped breakfast, so I might have forgotten a few of the answers. Oh well, I think I still got an A on it, though.

Suddenly, we heard the door chime. "Pizza's here!" Marina said, and the four of us raced to the door. A cute blond pizza delivery merboy with a red tail was swimming in the entryway. He handed Marina the box of pizza, and she handed him some of the gold coins we used for currency here on Allpoints Island. "Thanks, Neil." She said. "No problem, Marina, enjoy." He replied before swimming away.

We followed Marina into the dining room. She set the pizza box on the table and opened it up. Inside was a large pineapple-and-anchovy pizza. "Yum, my favorite!" I said, grabbing a slice and putting it on a plate. "Pineapple-and-anchovy, swishy!" Shona said, also grabbing a slice. Althea and Marina took slices, too.

As we ate, Althea told us about her dolphin-riding lesson she had had this morning. "Saphira was great today! She listened to me really well, and Pearl said we got up to ten knots!" Althea said excitedly. Althea absolutely **loved** dolphin-riding. Pearl, her riding instructor, gave her a lesson every Saturday morning. "Did you jump?" Marina asked. "Only about three feet above the water!" she exclaimed. Jumping on dolphin-back was the only time a mermaid came completely out of the water. "You should try it sometime, you guys, the feeling is amazing! You can feel the wind in your hair and on your scales; it's like your flying!" she gushed, throwing her hands into the air. We giggled; Althea got a little overexcited when the topic of jumping dolphins came up. "Well, maybe we will someday, if you calm down." Shona teased.

Once we finished our pizza, we cleaned up after ourselves and then headed back into Marina's bedroom. "What do you guys want to do first? Makeovers?" she asked as we sat down in a circle on her floor. "Well, I brought a bead kit; we could make friendship bracelets if you want." I volunteered. "Ooh, that's a great idea!" Marina said. Everyone nodded. So I got the kit out of my bag and put it on the floor in between us. I opened it and took out four pieces of gold seaweed, handing a piece to each girl and keeping one for myself.

We talked about this and that while we strung multi-colored beads on our strands of seaweed. When we were done, we exchanged them. I gave my pink and orange bracelet to Shona. I had put a gold charm in the shape of a hairbrush on it. "Thanks, Emily, it's swishy!" she said as I tied it around her wrist. Marina gave Althea a turquoise and white bracelet with a gold dolphin charm. Althea gave Marina a red and yellow bracelet with a gold treble clef on it. Shona tied the purple and blue bracelet that she had made around my wrist. It had a gold heart on it.

I smiled, thinking how perfect the charms were. Shona loved our Beauty and Deportment class at school; the hairbrush represented that perfectly. Obviously, Althea loved dolphins, and Marina wanted to be a siren when she grew up.

A few years ago, a broken heart would have been more appropriate for me; I hated school, had no friends, was bullied by Mandy Rushton, and had never met my father. Now, I was living on beautiful Allpoints Island with both my parents and my best friend, Shona; learning how to be a mermaid in school; and I was finally on Neptune's good side! Mandy Rushton and I had even made up; she saved me from the kraken. And I had finally found someone who understood me. Yes, life was good, and the whole heart definitely fit.

"So, ready for makeovers?" Shona asked, breaking me out of my reverie. "Yeah, sure." I said, and the others nodded.

Shona worked on me, and Marina worked on Althea. Shona put a hat made from sea fans on my head, and curled the ends of my mousy brown, shoulder-length hair. She drew swirls of blue glitter sand on my green-and-purple tail. For the finishing touch, she tied a string of shells around my neck.

Marina put blue seaweed extensions in Althea's jet black hair, and drew silver stars on her green tail. Then she gave her bangles made of shells and pebbles to put on with her friendship bracelet.

When Shona and Marina were done, we switched. I put a pretty razor shell comb adorned with sea flowers in Shona's long, silky blonde hair. Pink stripes glittered on her silvery green tail, and pearls shone around her neck when I was through with her.

Althea tied Marina's curly red hair up with a gold seaweed ribbon, and put a belt of oyster shells around her waist and a red starfish brooch on her bikini top. A red crescent moon glittered on the end of her gold tail.

"Wow, we look amazing!" I exclaimed as we hovered in front of Marina's crystal mirror. "Of course we do, we're mermaids. We're supposed to look beautiful." Shona said, flipping her hair. We all laughed. "Well, what now?" Marina asked. "Oh, let's play Truth or Dare!" Althea said excitedly.

The rest of us agreed, and we once again sat down in a circle on the floor. "Since it was your idea, you go first. Truth or dare, Althea?" Marina asked. "Dare" Althea replied confidently. Marina thought for a moment. Then she smirked. "I dare you to drink whatever I give you." "Okay" Althea said. Then Marina disappeared.

She returned a moment later with a glass of orange-brown liquid. "What is that?" Althea asked nervously. "Drink it and I'll tell you." Marina said evilly. Althea took the glass and sniffed the liquid. She wrinkled her nose and frowned. Then she held her nose and downed it in one gulp. "Eew! What the heck was that?!" she spluttered. Marina laughed at the look on her face. "Orange juice, soda, and maple syrup." Althea wrinkled her nose again, and this time we all laughed.

"Okay, Shona's turn. Shona, truth or dare?" Althea asked her. "Truth" Shona said. I didn't blame her after what Althea just had to do. "Did you and Emily really awaken the kraken?" Althea asked her after thinking for a moment. Shona blushed and ducked her head. I did the same. I hated to be reminded of how I screwed up when I first got to Allpoints Island. "Yes" Shona whispered. "Hey, it's okay, Shona. We shouldn't have even shown you that cave in the first place. And everything turned out all right in the end, right?" Marina said, patting Shona on the shoulder. Althea patted me on the back, too. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Shona mumbled.

When she finally looked up, she stared at me, smirking. "All right, Emily, your turn: truth or dare?" I gulped. "Truth?" it came out more like a question. Shona thought for a moment before smirking again. "Why do you have a crush on Aaron?" my eyes widened. She wouldn't! But she did! "What are you talking about Shona? I don't have a crush on Aaron. That's ridiculous!" I said, my cheeks turning red. "Oh save it, Emily, we all know you've been crushing on Aaron for over a year." Marina said. I sighed. "Well, he's smart, funny, caring, and sweet, and-" "And don't forget cute!" Shona teased. "Yeah, well, that too. But he _understands_ me. He knows what it's like to almost lose a parent, to be cursed, and lonely. And to be a semi-mer. To feel your legs stick together as if someone bandaged them together before they disappear and turn into your tail; to never really fit in…" I trailed off, embarrassed. "But you do fit in, Emily! You have us; we're your best friends!" Shona said. "Yeah, now I fit in, but I didn't used to. When I first came here, I was always getting in trouble, and I didn't know how to be a mermaid at all." I said, trying to explain how I had felt. "Well, it's good that you like Aaron, and that you two have so much in common, but don't ever think that you don't fit in or that you don't have friends, because you do." Shona said, and then they all gave me a group hug. "Thanks, you guys. You're the best!" I said, hugging them back.

"All right, lets get back to the game; Marina, truth or dare?" I asked. "Truth" she answered. I guess no one was brave enough to pick dare after what Althea had to do. "Um," I thought for a minute. "Ah. Marina, are you afraid of King Neptune?" I knew I was, but I thought that maybe that was just because I always seemed to get on his bad side. "Definitely!" Marina said, and we all laughed.

"Okay, for this round you have to pick the opposite of what you picked last time." Marina said. We all nodded. "So Althea, truth or dare?" she asked. "Hmm, let me think: truth." Althea said, sarcastically pretending to think about it. Then Marina had to think of a question. "Have you ever competed in a dolphin show?" she asked. Shona and I perked up. As far as we knew, Althea had never been in a show, so if she had, we wanted to hear all about it.

"I was in one once, yes. When I was ten, I had been on Allpoints Island for two years, and had been riding Saphira just as long. This was before any of you had moved here yet. I entered two classes: equitation and jumping. Both classes were just for nine to twelve year olds. I won first place in the equitation class, and third in the jumping class. It was windy that day, and Saphira hesitated twice before jumping out of the water. But overall, I was really happy that day; Saphira and I had both performed really well and had worked as a team, and we won two ribbons. A very successful day in my opinion." Althea finished as we all stared at her admiringly. "Wow, that's swishy!" Shona said. Then I realized something. "Why don't you enter any more dolphin shows, and how come you never told us about this one?" I asked her. "Well, I did a good job that day, but the show was still a lot of pressure and it was very competitive. And I really only rode about twenty minutes that day, even though the show was an hour and a half. I realized that I like riding for fun, not for competition. And I don't know why I never told you guys about it. I guess it just never came up. In fact, we never really talk about what Marina and I did before you moved to Allpoints Island…" Althea trailed off, lost in thought.

"Well, I lived off the coast of Scotland, in the Loch Ness Lake. Then, about the time I turned eleven, humans started searching for Nessie, the kelpie that lives in the lake. Apparently, some humans had spotted her on several occasions, and one time they thought they saw her eat a person, so they started trying to capture her and kill her." Marina began. "Oh, that's horrible!" I gasped. "Don't worry, Nessie is really very sweet. She's a vegetarian, and I'm sure that the person Nessie 'ate' was really just a mermaid feeding her some aquatic plants. But the humans didn't know that, and humans fear the unknown, especially when the unknown is as big as a whale." "So humans killed Nessie?" Althea asked with wide eyes. "Of course not. Nessie is very smart, and she can turn into an otter or a fish whenever humans come snooping around. Unfortunately, mermaids can't. My mom and dad were afraid that humans would discover us in their search for Nessie, so we moved here." Marina finished. "Wow, what a cool story!" Shona said. "What, no 'swishy'?" I teased her. Shona stuck her tongue out at me playfully. "So why did you move here, Althea?" Shona asked, turning to her.

"Well, my family and I lived in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. When I was eight, two criminals escaped from the human prison, Alcatraz, which is on an island off the coast of California as well. My parents were scared that more human criminals would escape and eventually, one of them would discover us, and possibly hurt or expose us, so we moved here, too. I was introduced to dolphin-riding shortly after moving here." "Sharks alive! Escaping criminals! Now that's scary!" Marina said. Shona and I nodded.

"Hey, who's turn was it?" I asked.

"Um, it's Shona's turn." Marina said after a minute.

"Oh yeah, Shona, truth or dare?" Althea asked her. "Dare" she said. Althea thought for a minute. "I dare you to kiss a glasseye snapper."

"What!?" Shona exclaimed. "Eew!" "You heard me. Your dare is to kiss a glasseye snapper." Althea laughed. Shona muttered incomprehensibly under her breath. Then we followed her as she swam outside.

We helped her corner a glasseye snapper. She grabbed it and then planted a quick kiss on its slippery mouth. "Yuck!" Shona yelled, releasing the fish and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. We all laughed. Shona glared at us before bursting out in laughter as well.

"It's your turn Emily. Truth or dare?" Shona asked me as we all made our way back inside to Marina's bedroom. "Dare" I said. Shona's face brightened like a light bulb. "I dare you to kiss Aaron on the lips, for at least ten seconds." I baulked. I had to think of a way out of this, fast. Then it came to me. "But it's nine-thirty at night! What do you want me to do, barge into his house, grab him by the shirt, kiss him, and then leave without any explanation?" "Of course not! You'll ask him out on a date tomorrow, and **then **kiss him. And don't even bother trying to get out of it, it's not going to work and you know you want to anyway." Shona said smugly. I sighed. "Fine"

"Okay, you're turn, Marina. Truth or dare?" I asked her. Hopefully, everyone would forget about my dare in the morning. "Dare" she said.

"Hmm…oh I've got a good one. This is a two part dare. The first part is, I dare you to sing us a siren song." Everyone smiled. Marina was a great singer, and we loved to hear her croon the wordless tunes of the sirens. She began singing, her voice rising and falling with the beautiful melody. We swayed along to the music, caught in a trance.

When she was done, Marina stood up and took a bow, breaking us out of the trance. "So, what's the second part of the dare?" she asked me, and it took me a few moments to gather my thoughts. "What? Oh yeah, I dare you to start a pillow fight." I said, smiling. Marina grinned evilly. "You mean like this?" she asked picking up a pillow and playfully whacking me in the head with it. "Exactly" I laughed. Then I grabbed a pillow of my own and whacked her back. The others joined in as well.

It was utter chaos in her room, the four of us shrieking with laughter and pelting each other with seaweed pillows.

Finally, we fell down in a heap upon the floor, still laughing. "I'm tired, but I'm not ready to go to sleep yet." Althea giggled. "Want to pop some popcorn and watch a movie?" Marina asked. We nodded in agreement. So Marina disentangled herself from the rest of us went into the kitchen to pop some popcorn. In the meantime, we got up and picked out a movie from her collection.

By the time Marina came back with a fresh bowl of popcorn, the opening credits of Cirrus and Aquamarine (the mermaid version of Romeo and Juliet) had just started rolling. "Ooh, this is my favorite movie!" Marina exclaimed. "Shush!" we whispered, before bursting into quiet giggles.

"I still can't believe Cirrus dies!" Shona wailed as we cleaned up bits of popcorn scattered around Marina's room after the movie finished. "Shona, you've seen this movie a thousand times, you knew he was going to die. And Aquamarine died too, so they could be together." Althea chided her. "Yeah I know, and I'm glad they get to finally be together, but it's still so sad!" I had only seen this movie twice, and the first time was almost a year ago, so I had forgotten some things, but the both of them dying in the end was one detail I had remembered.

"C'mon, I'm beat. Let's hit the sack." Marina said, flopping down on her seaweed bed. We groaned in agreement as we turned out the lights before climbing into our seaweed sleeping bags. I heard Shona yelp as she lay down and discovered she had forgotten to take the razor shell comb out of her hair. There was a lot of scuffling as we all took off our jewelry and brushed the sand off our tails in the dark.

"Goodnight everyone." We said in unison when we were through. We giggled half-heartedly before promptly falling asleep.

****

I was swimming alongside Aaron in a lagoon. Then I turned to face him, and our heads got closer and closer. Our lips were mere centimeters apart when Aaron's face morphed into the face of the kraken. Horns grew from the side of his head, and his emerald green eyes bulged out and darkened, turning black and glittery, ugly. I screamed and tried to turn away, but his tentacles wrapped around me, holding me in his grasp, shaking me forcefully. He opened his jaws wide, and sharp, pointy teeth glistened in the water. He brought me closer and closer to the dark chasm that was his mouth, still shaking me violently. _Oh no, this is it, I'm dead meat._ Suddenly…

"Emily, Emily wake up. It's just a dream! Snap out of it!" My eyes snapped open and I bolted upright. Shona had her hands on my shoulders, and Marina and Althea were hovering close by. They all looked concerned. "Wha-what happened?" I asked, my voice quivering. "You were having a nightmare. You were screaming and thrashing around in your sleeping bag. I was trying to wake you up." I grabbed Shona up in a hug. She held me tightly. "Oh, Shona, it was horrible! Aaron and I were swimming, and then we were about to kiss-" "And what's so horrible about that?" Althea asked, trying to ease the tension in the room. "We were about to kiss, but then he turned into the kraken and tried to eat me!" my voice cracked on the word 'eat'. Althea and Marina hugged me too. "Don't worry Emily, it was just a nightmare. It wasn't real." Marina soothed. I took a few deep breaths.

"Thanks guys. I'm okay now." I said after I had regained control. Suddenly, we heard a faint grumbling noise. Marina blushed. "My stomach says it's time for breakfast. Anyone care to join me?" We all laughed and followed Marina into the kitchen.

On the table were four bowls, four spoons, a carton of coconut milk, and a big box of Fruity Pebbles cereal.

Once we had finished eating and cleaned up, we went back into Marina's room. "Okay, time to get Emily ready for her dare." Shona said excitedly. "I was hoping you guys would forget about that in the morning." I muttered under my breath. Althea, who was closest to me, laughed. "Sorry, Em, not going to happen." I sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot." Everyone laughed again.

Shona wanted to give me a makeover like the one she had given me last night, but I convinced her that that would look weird, and Aaron would wonder why I was all dressed up. So instead, they curled my hair, put a gold starfish comb in it, and painted a few gold stars on the end of my tail. Althea wanted to put makeup on me as well, but I argued that I'm only fourteen. "Not a lot of makeup, just a little mascara and some lip gloss. Please?" "Fine," I consented, "But only a little." Althea nodded and started to apply my makeup. "This will really make your brown eyes pop." She said. I finished off the look with a shell necklace and my friendship bracelet, of course.

The girls had to practically **drag** me out of the house and all the way to Aaron's place. I stopped about ten yards away from the boat Aaron lived on with his mom. We both lived in North Bay, but Aaron lived at the other end of it, on the Quicksilver. "How am I supposed to ask him out on a date?" I whispered frantically to the others. "Just ask him to go for a swim with you, and when the time seems right, kiss him. We'll follow you from a safe distance." Marina said.

"What, you're going to stalk me on my date? What if I don't want you listening to my conversation?"

"Fine, we won't follow you, but you had better kiss him. We'll find out if you don't." Shona said in mock seriousness that was somehow still serious. "And how are you going to find out whether I kiss him or not?" I asked mockingly. Althea was the one who replied mysteriously, "We have our ways."

"Pinky swear on it." I said. So Shona and I locked pinkies. "I pinky swear that none of us will follow you on your date." She recited. "And I pinky swear that I will kiss Aaron on the lips for at least ten seconds." I recited back. We pumped our hands once before releasing each other.

"Now go," Shona said, hugging me. "Have fun, and don't think of it as a dare. Think of it as an opportunity to show Aaron how you really feel about him, because I guarantee he feels the same way." And with that last piece of advice, I was off.

I went around to the open porthole and swam through. I had only been on the Quicksilver a few times, but I remembered that to the right of the porthole was a trapdoor that opened up into the kitchen. I didn't want to just barge in, so I knocked loudly on the wood. A moment later, Aaron's mother opened the trapdoor. "Oh, hello Emily. What brings you here today?" she asked pleasantly. "Hi Lily. Do you know if Aaron is around?" I asked her. Aaron's mother insisted on being called Lily by everyone except Aaron, who called her Mom. "Yes, he should be around here somewhere. I'll go get him. Make yourself at home in the meantime." She said, and disappeared to another part of the boat.

I propped myself up on the side of the opening, admiring the boat, which was even grander than my home, the Fortuna. I didn't come out of the water completely because I didn't want to get their kitchen floor soaking wet. About five minutes later, Aaron appeared in the kitchen. He was wearing jeans and a green t-shirt, which brought out the green in his eyes. His long, jet-black hair was tied back in a ponytail.

"Hey Emily, what's up? Haven't seen you around lately." "Oh, not much. I was wondering if you wanted to go for a swim with me." "Sure" he replied. "Hold on, I just have to ask my mom and put on my swim shorts." I nodded, and he disappeared again.

He came back wearing a pair of black swim shorts, and _no shirt_. My stomach did a flip-flop. I sunk down in the water to give Aaron some room. He splashed down next to me in the water. By the time the bubbles cleared, Aaron's legs were gone, and a black tail had taken their place. "And I was trying **not** to soak the kitchen floor." I joked as we swam back out the porthole. "Eh the Mercury's tough. A few drops of water on the floor aren't going to hurt it." He said casually. "A few drops, more like a tidal wave." I teased. "Same difference" he shrugged. I laughed.

"So, where are we going today?" Aaron asked. "Want to head over to Barracuda Point?" I asked. "Sure" he said, taking my hand. My stomach did another flip-flop. _Maybe this will be easier than I thought_.

After a few minutes of silence, I asked him, "Why do you call your boat the Mercury? I thought its name was the Quicksilver." "Oh, Mercury is just a sobriquet; it is named the Quicksilver." "What's a sobriquet?" I asked, more puzzled than before. "Oh, sobriquet is just a fancy word for nickname. Quicksilver is a sobriquet for the element mercury, so I just switched it around and nicknamed my boat, the Quicksilver, Mercury." He explained. I nodded, even though I was still a little confused.

We swam to Barracuda Point, talking about so many different things that I can't even recall half of them.

By the time we got to Barracuda Point, we were tired, so we rested on some rocks. We sat in comfortable silence for a while. Then Aaron cleared his throat.

"Uh, Emily, there's something I have to tell you." His voice was husky and low, and he sounded nervous. "Okay, shoot." "I really like you Emily. In fact, I think…I think I love you." His voice trailed off into a whisper. My breathing hitched, and my heart raced.

I turned to look at him. He was inspecting his tail, not meeting my gaze. I took his face in my hands and made him look into my eyes. Then I leaned closer, and pressed my lips to his.

It felt wonderful; Aaron's lips were the sweetest thing I had ever tasted. All that mattered was that we were together; nothing else. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I slid my hands down onto his chest.

I was breathless when we finally pulled apart. "I love you too, Aaron. I have since the day we brought the pearl and diamond rings together and lifted the curse." I whispered. We smiled simultaneously. "Will you be my girlfriend, Emily?" he asked. "Yes" I whispered. He smiled again, then lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it.

We sat in companionable silence for a long time. Eventually, we had to get back home, so we swam back to the Quicksilver hand in hand.

When the Quicksilver came into view, we were met with a surprise: Marina, Althea, and Shona were waiting for us. "So did you two have fun?" Shona asked us knowingly. Marina elbowed her and muttered something under her breath. Aaron and I swam past them and into the Quicksilver.

Aaron kissed me lightly on the cheek before opening the trapdoor into the kitchen. "Bye Emily. I'll see you soon, right?" he whispered. I nodded. "Of course, Aaron. I love you. Goodbye." "Bye" he said again before hoisting himself up through the trapdoor.

I swam out of the porthole and back to my friends. "So how did it go? Did you kiss him?" Shona bombarded me with questions. "It went great! We swam to Barracuda Point, and we talked about all kinds of stuff. And then we were tired so we rested on some rocks. And then he told me he loved me, and then I kissed him, and then he asked me to be his girlfriend!" I squealed as we swam back toward Marina's home in Double Arch Bay. Marina, Althea, and Shona squealed too. "I told you this would be fun, Emily." Shona said. "You're right Shona; this is the best sleepover I've ever been to!" I exclaimed. Everyone laughed.

****

It was suppertime, and I was back on the Fortuna with Mom and Dad. Marina, Althea, Shona, and I had gone back to Marina's house and played games for a while before finally breaking up and going home.

"So, did you have a good time at Marina's sleepover, Emily?" Dad asked as we ate dinner. "Yeah, it was great! The best sleepover ever!"

* * *

**Well, what did you think? Love it? Hate it? Something in between? Review and tell me what you think!! If you don't review, the kraken will come and eat you!!!**

**~Banditlover~**


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